Spending time on the business, not in the business

Business owners are often encouraged to spend less time in their business and more time on it to realise its full potential and see it grow but struggle do it. Both involved with ‘all things people’, Nuffield scholars Anna Bowen and Izak van Heerden discuss how to make it happen through good leadership.

Prioritising time to focus on strategy rather than remaining stuck in the immediate day-to-day demands of farming is not easy to do but essential for business success according to Izak van Heerden.

Prioritising successfully

Izak uses the Eisenhower Matrix to explain how to prioritise tasks and give yourself more time for the ‘bigger picture’.

He advises: “If something is important and it's urgent, do it now, do it first. If something is important, but it's not that urgent, make yourself a diary entry, set a date to do it. If you're on the not important but urgent quadrant, can you give that job to somebody else? Or push back and ask, is it something I actually need to do? And if it's not important and not urgent, just don't do it.

“Stepping back isn't abandoning the farm, it's actually giving your farm a better shot at long-term success.”

Focusing on strategy

Having extracted yourself from some of the day-to-day jobs, Anna advises allocating time to focus on strategy, keeping it “away from physically farming so you can just focus solely on that conversation.”

As contract farmers, Anna and her partner have dedicated meetings with the farm owner and farm consultant – and off the farm.

“Having that accountability of a third person or of the farm owner makes certain you go to that meeting and have it. If you start to think about how important the meetings are, you put the time aside for them.

“We put them in the diary and make sure we've got somebody to cover. Everybody knows about it, you know where it is, and you really block that time out. And getting away physically from the farm can help or you'll get distracted by something on the farm.”

Izak agrees, saying: “They are disciplined, they're booked in and they're non-negotiable.”

And when you have your vision and strategy, let your team know about it. Anna continues: “It's really important all the people who are involved with it [the business] understand what's going on. They need to know how they are contributing to your wider strategy.”

Empowering to lead

Having created and shared a clear business vision, Izak says, “It's all about empowering your people, really giving them some of the trust and the opportunity to express themselves.”

One of his favourite sayings is ‘you don’t need a title to be a leader’. He believes in empowering a team to be leaders whatever their role. Anna echoes this, saying leadership is about using empowerment to bring the best out in people, equipping them to lead both formally and informally.

Investing in leadership

With an empowered team, business owners don’t have to be involved in every decision, but it does require investment.

Referencing AHDB’s Bridging the Gap report, which found only 0.37% of those in the farming industry invest in leadership skills, he says: “It comes down to priorities, making sure you invest in yourself, but also how you invest in your team. If you invest in them, they'll feel valued and they'll pay you back. So, prioritise those leadership skills, both for yourself, but also for your team.”

He also suggests: “Good leaders hire for attitude, not just for skills. It's easier to teach people skills than attitudes. So, if you do that and trust your people and delegate, they're going to fly.”

[In the series 3 finale, hear how Rebecca Tonks has used this approach in her successful, award-winning egg business]

Box: Top tips for spending time on the business

Plan regular meetings with your business partners, your consultants and your team – and make sure they happen
Use a mix of group meetings and one-to-one sessions with your team – and listen as much as you talk
Include regular informal team ‘check-ins’ away from the farm – go out for a drink, fish & chips or ten-pin bowling
Define and communicate team roles clearly
Delegate tasks based on their value to the business and your team’s skillset. Delegate the £10/hour jobs to give yourself time to focus on the more valuable work, and if someone is interested in doing a task, but not skilled at it, offer them training.

Box: Spending time on the business: Take-home messages

Leadership applies to everyone and affects us all; it's something we can all practice.
Good enough can be good enough. Sometimes aim for progress not perfection.
The importance of ‘team’. Leadership treats people as humans; without that, it’s just management

"Take time to communicate what’s important for our business in terms of mission or goals or objectives. Equally important, especially if we're stepping back and giving other people the chance to take on more responsibility, is to listen. Understand what it is they see in the business that we don't see, to use their perspectives and closeness to different parts of the operation to help us influence how the business goes forward.”

Listen to the full episode at https://www.cornishmutual.co.uk/news-advice/farming-focus-podcast/ - also available via Spotify and Apple podcasts.

Izak van Heerden is a Senior Knowledge Exchange Manager with AHDB, specialising in people management, leadership and motivation. He leads the AHDB AgriLeader programme.

Anna Bowen is a dairy farmer in Ceredigion and a farm business consultant with The Andersons Centre. She was named 2024 Dairy Industry Woman of the Year.